Journalism Interviews

On election day, I had the opportunity to give a guest lecture to Geoffrey Graybeal's (one of PhD colleagues) classes. I discussed online political campaign communication. Since the lecture, I've had a few students interview me for their election analysis stories. I thought they had some interesting questions that I thought I would post here to see what your answers would be.

Here are a few of them:

Do you think that young voters were actually influenced by the information available on new media, or did they just use it as a way to publicly support the candidate that they had already decided to vote for?

Did young voters use new media to try and influence their friends to vote for a particular candidate? How did they do it? Did it work?

Do you think the way Obama used new media in his campaign will forever change the way campaigns are run?

Useful and Interesting Links

Here are a few links to various Web sites and blogs that I think are useful and/or interesting (some are older than others).

Politics/Election
Secrets of Election 2008 - Newsweek
Obama's Newest Web Presence - Office of the President-Elect
Fireside Chats in the Digital Age - Personal Democracy Forum
Barack Obama, The Social Web, & The Future of User-Generated Governance - Brian Solis

PR
Tactical Transparency - Paull Young
Public Engagement - Richard Edelman
Understanding Social Media - PRSA
Survey about Online Newsrooms & Social Media - PRSA

Misc
Shuttle Launch by Hyku

A New Day, A New Beginning

Congratulations to President-elect Barack Obama! It is truly a historic moment. We should embrace and celebrate, but not forget the work ahead to get this country back on its feet.

I think this song and video encompasses our time:

The Huck on SNL

I thought this skit was rather entertaining from last night's Saturday Night Live.

Thoughts on the Election

I just love the pictures they select on DrudgeReport...they love Hillary :-P

Anyway, many people have been asking me about my thoughts on the Presidential Election and wondering who I actually voted for in the GA primary. I've been reluctant to share because at heart I'm an academic and we really should manage to stay objective in our thinking. It also aides in our viewing of election materials, articles, and various other mediums we choose to study. I am by no means saying that I don't have an opinion, but I choose to exercise that opinion privately.

With that said, I would like to share some of my objective thoughts about this election season thus ar. I will refrain from making predictions because I'm neither a pundit nor an fortune teller for the American voter. I like to leave it up to the process...that's what it's there for.

The number one trend I'm most thrilled about in this election is the shear amount of involvement, discussion and engagement with politics. I love to hear people discussing politics around campus, on the bus, in coffee shops and elsewhere. No matter what you think about red and blue states, we as a nation need to continue this engagement and educating ourselves on the political process. I was so happy to see more explanations of the delegate system and how the political process works. These thoughts may be my idealism showing, but I don't think I'm in the minority either.

Another trend I think is related to the engagement is the overall lack of negativity between candidates. Though there have been examples of classic attack including the "war of words" (interesting article about that: http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=cp_fpfs1pmkq14&show_article=1) and McCain's most recent comments about Obama's inexperience. However, overall, the candidates have attempted to put themselves up for election without taking down their opponents. A student asked me during a recent lecture about political advertising about how the lack of negativity would play as we went forward. My thought is cynical because I don't see it lasting as we go into the general election period. The party loyalty is important right now, but once it is Republican versus Democrat...we will most likely regress back into the typical negative attacks.

As the primaries go forward, especially with the Democrats, I think it's now important to concentrate on policy differences between Clinton and Obama. Yes, there are a lot of similarities, but also differences. These are what should make the difference...not gender, race, etc. On the subject of change...as Clinton stated in one of the debates, no matter which candidate you choose on the Democratic side, there will be change. [No bias intended].

As for McCain, I do not think he should be attempting to influence the Democratic primaries. He should work on maintaining party loyalty and focus on his choice for a VP. Also, come up with solid plan for Iraq, other than another 100 years of occupation. [A joke...no more]

In other news...I'm thrilled to see that the first search result that comes up when you Google my name is this blog :)

MTV Street Team Quote

I forgot to post this earlier, but I thought it was great to meet Shelby Highsmith at SoCon08. He then interviewed me for his weekly post for the MTV Street Team 08. Highsmith is the Georgia state representative for the Street Team.

Quoted (it's towards the bottom)...

http://think.mtv.com/044FDFFFF0098A04C00080098D195/User/Blog/BlogPostDetail.aspx

Hope everyone is having a great week!

Super Tuesday!

Here we are...Super Tuesday. We have reached the most important day of the 2008 Presidential Election. Some people were excited about LOST coming back last week, others are anticipating a resolution of the writer's strike, but I have been teeming with excitement waiting for today's primary elections.

No matter what the pundits or polls say, it's up to the American people to choose who the candidates in the Republican and Democratic party will be this Fall.

If you are one of the following states, get out & vote: California, Idaho, Montana, Utah, Arizona, Alaska, New Mexico, Colorado, North Dakota, Kansas, Oklahoma, Minnesota, Missouri, Arkansas, Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia, West Virginia, Delaware, Connecticut, New Jersey, New York, Massachusetts.

Polls open in Georgia at 7 a.m. and stay open till 7 p.m.!

I look forward to updating later today :)